The Village Hidden In The Shadows
by firedude
Summary: Ninjas have always been safe in the shadows, but what happens when shadows can't help you. Parings will soon be listed.


**The Village Hidden in the Shadows**

**Chapter1: Artist**

Firedude: Hello everyone! This is my first Naruto story so please bear with me. The story takes place after the Sai & Sasuke Story Arc. I also don't know the Japanese names for the techniques so I'm using English ones (I hope that's ok). Please review even if you don't have much to say or even if you didn't like the story. I enjoy constructive criticism. I'm also going to have couples in the story so please give me your suggestions.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Only the village hidden in the shadows belongs to me.

Firedude: Well here's my first attempt at a Naruto story so please give me your honest opinion.

In a forest on the Eastern border of the sand country a team of four shinobi were desperately trying to make it back to their village. It was deep into the night and it was hard to navigate the through the trees in the forest. A mysterious group of ninja were close on their heels and were getting closer.

"Keep up Kankuro! He's gaining on us!" called Temari back to her brother. Kankuro muttered something under his breath and increased his speed so he was right next to Temari. "I told you we shouldn't have brought those two along with us! They weren't ready and they gave our position away!" Temari glared at Kankuro and snapped back. "Don't blame the chunin for your own mistake you-!"

Temari couldn't finish her sentence, because a chunin cut her off. "Look out! Above us!" Temari and Kankuro looked up just in time to dodge what seemed to be a small can. The can hit a branch and black paint exploded every where. "What kind of weapon is this guy using?" About twenty more flew at them shortly after. Temari quickly unfolded her fan and swung it towards the projectiles. The force of wind was so strong it sent the cans into the nearby trees. The cans shattered and paint flew every where.

They all dodged the paint, not knowing what it would do to them. A cloaked ninja landed in the tree in front of them impeding their path. Kankuro cursed and reached for his Karasu scroll. One of the chunin put his hand on Kankuro's shoulder. "We'll handle this sir. You two get back to the village and warn them." Him and the other chunin pulled out their kunai knives and stepped towards the shrouded ninja.

Kankuro gritted his teeth hesitantly before continuing forward with Temari. She called back to them quickly. "You guys better make it back!" They then disappeared from sight. The two chunin dropped down with the other shinobi to the ground. One of them charged at the ninja while the other quickly did hand seals. He swung a kunai knife at the shinobi's head who caught it with his palm. No matter how hard he pressed the kunai knife wouldn't break the skin.

The shrouded ninja grinned and gripped the kunai blade shattering it to pieces. The chunin quickly swung the other, but was impeded by his other hand. The shinobi pulled out a can of paint with a nozzle on it. He then pressed down and sprayed black paint into the chunin's eyes. He cried out in pain and tried to wipe it off, but to no avail. The paint ninja grinned and thrusted his palm into the sand chunin's stomach sending backward to his comrade's side.

The other chunin had completed his hand seals and sent a white blast at the shrouded shinobi's feet. "Sand Trapping Jutsu!" The ground under thee paint ninja's feet turned to quick sand and pulled him down to shoulder level. The chunin smiled out of satisfactory and kneeled down next to his comrade. "Are you ok?"

"The bastard sprayed something into my eyes! I can't feel my face!" The chunin reached down to help his ally up, but then noticed something on his stomach. An exploding tag had been placed there when the paint ninja knocked him back. He tried to warn him and get the tag off, but it had exploded already. It blew his torso clear off his waist.

The remaining chunin stood there in shock as he witnessed his comrade be blown apart. He gripped his kunai in anger and charged at the paint ninja. "Die you coward!" The paint shinobi grinned and allowed the quick sand to fully consume him. The chunin thrusted his hand into the quick sand in an attempt to catch and kill him, but was unable to locate him. He stood up and began to walk back towards his ally's corpse, but began to hear a rumble behind him.

Before he could even turn around to see what it was the paint ninja jumped out of the quick sand. The chunin tried to jump backward to escape, but was kicked in the face. He flew backward into a tree and tried to recover. The shrouded ninja dove at him with a kunai knife and attempted to stab him. The chunin however dodged the blow just in time.

He got around behind the paint shinobi and stabbed him with a kunai knife from behind. "Who the hell are you?" The mysterious ninja just laughed and took out a paint brush with red paint on it. He escaped from the kunai knife and pinned its wielder to the tree. He quickly drew a symbol on the back of chunin who struggled furiously. When he was done he tossed him a couple yards away.

He quickly did some hand seals and shouted. "Exploding paint jutsu!" the symbol on the back of the chunin then began to glow and a few seconds later it exploded. He fell to the ground silently and died. The paint shinobi laughed a little and quickly followed Kankuro and Temari.

"We're almost there Temari! Nothing can stop us now!" Temari scolded her brother. "Don't say things like that! We're only there when we're there!" Kankuro rumbled and focused on the trees. "…I hope they're alright." Temari hung her head slightly. "Me too, I feel kind of guilty that we didn't stay." Kankuro remained silent for a minute. "Well dwelling on it isn't going to help them now. All we can do is hope that they-." Before Kankuro could finish his sentence he was hit in the back of the head with stone.

He fell out of the tree and landed on the ground with a thud. Temari jumped down after him and went to his side. "Kankuro, Are you ok?" Kankuro sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah… what the hell was that?" The paint ninja jumped down on the ground a few yards behind them. Kankuro immediately sprung up and grabbed his Karasu scroll. "You again, what happened to the chunin?"

The ninja laughed softly and pulled out two sand village head bands. One had a black mark on it while the other had a red. "Nothing… I just added two more to my collection…" He opened his black coat and put it in his coat pocket along with a bunch of other head bands with different marks. Kankuro gritted his teeth out of anger while Temari was in a state of shock.

Kankuro pulled out all of his scrolls and opened them. "Let's take him down Temari!" Temari nodded and swung open her fan. Kankuro summoned Karasu, Kuroari and Sanshouo (For those of you who don't know Crow, Black Ant and Salamander). The paint shinobi laughed as they brandished their weapons. "You think you can hurt me with those toys?"

"I don't think they can hurt you… I know they can kill you! Puppet Jutsu!" Chakra strings shot out of his finger tips and into the backs of his puppets. He sent Karasu straight ahead at his shrouded foe. It shot a poison grenade out of its mouth right at his face. He laughed and dodged it. Karasu's poison blades then slide out from its palms and began to swipe furiously at its opponent.

He side stepped each of the blows effortlessly. He laughed and launched himself at Karasu. Kankuro grinned at his foolish attack and sent Kuroari forward. The paint shinobi brandished a kunai knife and stabbed at Karasu who blocked it effortlessly. Karasu pushed against him and sent him right into the belly of Kuroari. Kuroari closed once he was inside and Karasu began to come apart.

Kankuro grinned at the familiar sight of Karasu's limbs coming apart. He tugged the charka strings and the blades of Karasu's limbs sped towards Kuroari. The blades each inserted into different slots in Kuroari's torso. "Black Secret Technique Machine One Shot!" Kankuro waited a minute for a scream or blood to drip out of Kuroari, but nothing happened.

Kankuro pulled the strings to open Kuroari, but there was just a log inside. Kankuro cursed and looked around for where he could have escaped to. Temari heard a noise behind her and whirled around swinging her fan. "Cutting Whirlwind Jutsu!" Sharp gusts of wind shot out in the direction of the sound. It cut through multiple trees and bushed, but there was nothing there.

"…Foolish little girl!" Temari looked up just in time to see the paint ninja drop down on her. Before she could swing her fan again he took out a paint brush dipped in black paint. He quickly marked her wrists ankles shoulders and knees with black paint. She then fell on her side with a grunt. When he was finished Sanshouo smacked him into a tree with his massive tail.

Kankuro ran in front of his sister with his puppets to protect her. "Are you ok Temari?" Temari struggled to move her limbs. "I can't move my body!" Kankuro whirled around. "What are you talking about? He didn't even hit you he just marked you with paint!" He heard a laugh from behind him and turned to see that the paint ninja was standing up.

"That's right all I did was mark her joints with black paint. This is no ordinary paint though. When you come in contact it will paralyze you as long as it's on your skin." Kankuro gritted his teeth and shouted. "What the hell are you?" He laughed and took out an iron hand ball. He scribbled red paint all over it and smiled. "I'm an artist."

The artist threw the ball at an incredible speed at Karasu. Kankuro quickly pulled a string and Karasu sliced it in half. The paint ninja smiled and did a tiger hand seal. "Exploding Paint Jutsu!" Both sided of the ball then began to glow and exploded. When the smoke cleared Karasu was blown in two. Kankuro cursed and sent Kuroari straight towards the artist. Its belly opened once more to catch him, but missed him.

He took a small jar of red paint and dipped the tip of his brush in it. He quickly put some on Kuroari's face and joints. He then did another tiger hand seal and shouted. "Exploding Paint Jutsu!" The red paint began to glow and Kuroari exploded. Kankuro stood there in shock at the sight of the destruction of his second puppet. "Unlike the black the red paint can cause explosions." He laughed a little and turned towards Kankuro. "Isn't art so beautiful?"

He jumped towards Sanshouo who whipped him once again with its tail. This time however he caught its tail and broke it in two. Before Kankuro could pull Sanshouo back to him the artist took out a bottle of red spray paint and quickly sprayed Sanshouo. "Exploding Paint Jutsu!" Sanshouo then exploded leaving Kankuro defenseless.

Before Kankuro could pull out a kunai knife to defend himself with the paint shinobi had planted a round house kick to the side of his head. He hit the ground a couple of yards away and tried to get back on his feet. The artist however had tackled him and quickly marked his joints with black paint. "Now… it's about time to for you to receive punishment. What should I start with? Your legs or your arms?"

"Stop right there!" He turned around to see that Temari had made it back on her feet, but was struggling to stay up. The artist laughed a little and walked towards Temari. "No! Temari just stay down!" Temari opened her fan and swung it at the paint ninja. Before she was able to complete the swing his knee collided with her stomach. She fell back to the ground and shouted in frustration.

The artist simply laughed and brandished a kunai knife. "It seems that my paint isn't enough to keep you down." He then stabbed her ankles with the knife and she cried out in paint. He laughed sadistically at the sound of her cries. He then put away his knife and picked up both their bodies. "Too bad we have to stop. My master wants you alive… at least for now…"

A day or two later in Konoha Tsunade had received a message from Suna. Shikamaru entered Tsunade's office and shut the door behind him. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and stood at attention. "You wanted to see me Madame Hokage?" Tsunade set down her cup of tea and picked up a piece of paper. "Yes I did Shikamaru. This morning we received a distress call from Suna. Apparently two jonin and two chunin didn't return from a class A scouting mission."

Shikamaru sighed at the news. "What a drag… who were the shinobi?" Tsunade frowned and remained silent. "It didn't list the names of the chunin, but it says that the jonin were Kankuro and Temari." Shikamaru's eyes widened and his fists clenched at the mention of Temari. "Who did it? It was the sound village wasn't it?" Tsunade remained silent for a minute before standing up to look out the window. "I wish I could say it was… but it's not. They're called the village hidden in the shadows…"

Firedude: Alright there it was my first chapter! Please tell me honestly what you thought of it and what I should improve on. Also once again please give me suggestions for couples. I have couples prepared, but I would like my reviewers' input too. Thank you once again for reading!


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